Performance of various Indian institutes is on a decline as per the Times Higher Education’s 14th annual World University Rankings.

IIT and IISc have the reputation to be one of the best institutions in India. However, latest global rankings suggest something different. Rankings of these institutions have fallen from last year. Indian Institute of Science, which stood proudly in 201-250 band last year, has dropped to 251-300 band this year.

Comprehensively, the performance of Indian centers of learning has depreciated, with its share of universities falling from 31 to 30 in the top 1000. These rankings come from the Times Higher Education’s 14th annual edition of its World University Ranking that ranks the top 1,000 universities from 77 countries.

Most of the globally renowned universities have done pretty well and stood to do their good name. The University of Oxford retained the first place, whereas the University of Cambridge climbs two places to be at the second position, overtaking California Institute of Technology and Stanford University sharing the third position.

It’s a sad story for IITs and IISc. Times Higher Education’s 14th annual World University Rankings said, “IISc has fallen largely due to drops in its research influence score and research income. The Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur and Indian Institute of Technology Madras have also dropped by at least one band.”

In the report, it was also seen that leading universities in other Asian territories such as China, Hong Kong, and Singapore are consistently rising up the rankings. Phil Baty, the editorial director, Global Rankings at Times Higher Education (THE), said, “It is disappointing that India has declined in the THE World University Rankings amid increasing global competition”. Baty also added that there’s some positive news. India’s overall research income and research quality would be rising this year; and that India’s university plan recognizes the importance of investing in higher education, which may allow the rankings to take a U turn and enhance the ranks in future.

Indian Universities’ ranks dropped alarmingly due to other universities rising at a faster rate. But there’s a ray of hope. “Government policy strictly limits the number of students from abroad who can study in India and prevents international scholars from being hired into long-term faculty positions. However, India may recover on this metric because of its world-class university plan, which aims to provide additional funding for selected public and private universities for infrastructure and academics”, THE added.